One of my customers donated an iPhone 4 to me for parts. It was disabled and the owner couldn't remember the password, or the Apple ID. Since it was a 4, they already had a 5S replacement, and I had repaired several of their devices in the past, they gave this one to me for parts. After striping everything from the phone and filing the small parts away, I decided to use the logic board in an experiment.

People continue to tell me that their wet phone is currently in rice, but is still dead. So, I decided to rig this now "naked" (no frame and the protective shields removed from the logic board) phone to function by connecting a screen to the board, along with a battery (charged to 75% - I got impatient waiting for 100%), and the charge port (dock) connected (so I could plug in a cord to turn it on once I was ready to dunk the contraption in water).

Below are the two videos I made while the naked phone was under water. One is the first 2 minutes of the experiment, describing what's about to happen, the other is a time-lapse filmed on another iPhone - compressing 30 minutes into 30 seconds and showing how the logic board gets covered in corrosion under water.

Question: If this were your phone, and you put it in rice, what would happen?Answer: "The rice will pull the moisture out of the phone, then it will work"

Other websites and blogs will tell the reader to pull out the battery, the SIM tray, and take it apart as much as you can to "drain" the water out. That's all well and fine, but what about what the water leaves behind?

Below are 4 photos of the iPhone's logic board a day after it was put in the water. Under the microscope, corrosion can be seen all over the board. That's not to say you shouldn't pull the battery and and SIM tray, but rice isn't going to help you remove corrosion. You need to get your phone to a professional that can get the phone apart and into an ultrasonic cleaner to remove the corrosion. We offer that service here: http://www.riceisfordinner.com/store/p17/Water_Damage_Restoration.html

I've said this many times before, and here it is again, "If you feel like rice "saved" your phone, you were lucky. Nothing more, nothing less". Silica gel, TekDry, and any other drying method can be substituted for rice in that sentence. Why risk your baby, wedding, vacation, and other photos, as well as your contacts, unsync'd apps, and other data to chance? Time is not your friend when it comes to water damage and putting all of your chips on the rice bet can be an all or nothing proposition with the odds stacked against you. Later, when it doesn't work, and you ask me, or another water damage professional for help, the effort may be for nothing as the salvage-ability clock has run out.

Since the board is disabled and I've already covered it in corrosion by sticking it in water, I decided to also zap it with a stun gun. :)

Why? ...well, why not? :)

Next up for that poor board is a video on the dangers of using hot air to remove board shields. Yes, you can use hot air to remove shields. That's how we do it at ri4d.com. But, the inexperienced DIYer is bound to make an oops while doing it. Stay tuned to see why ;)

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